KITACK LIM - Mr. Kitack Lim (Republic of Korea) was elected as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with effect from 1 January 2016, for an initial term of four years. He was re-elected for a second term from January 2020. He succeeded Koji Sekimizu.

Mr. Kitack Lim (Republic of Korea) has been elected as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with effect from 1 January 2016, for an initial term of four years.

During this term some questions as to transparency have come to our attention in failing to respond to correspondence on subjects of some importance, such as mitigation and scrappage.

Other subjects that remain of concern during his term of office include: 

        - AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

        - GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTIONS

        - HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEMS, ELECTRIC, SOLAR & WIND

        - LITTER MARINE PLASTIC FROM SHIPS

        - MITIGATION PAYMENTS & SCRAPPAGE SCHEME

The vote took place during the 114th session of the 40-Member strong IMO Council, which is meeting from 29 June to 3 July 2015. The decision of the Council will be submitted to the IMO Assembly, which meets for its 29th session from 23 November-2 December 2015, for approval.

Mr. Lim is currently president of Busan Port Authority. He served as the Republic of Korea’s Deputy Permanent Representative to IMO from 2006 to 2009 and was Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI) from 2002 to 2004.

Mr. Lim was born in Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do, one of the major port cities in the Republic of Korea. He majored in nautical science at the Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KMOU), Busan, graduating in 1977.

He worked on ships as a Korean naval officer and for Sanko Shipping Co. He joined the Korea Maritime and Port Administration in 1985, while continuing with further studies at the Graduate School of Administration, Yonsei University, obtaining a Master’s Degree in 1990. He then studied maritime administration with a major in navigation at the World Maritime University (WMU), graduating with a master’s degree.

Since 1995 he has attended a doctoral programme for international law at KMOU, completing course work in 1998.

Mr. Lim began attending IMO meetings as part of the delegation from the Republic of Korea in 1986, actively participating in maritime safety and environmental protection issues. From 1992, he engaged in activities to promote maritime safety through effective implementation of IMO conventions in his country and other IMO Member States in the Asian region. He was elected Chairman of the Tokyo Memorandum on Port State Control in 2004. 

In 2006, Mr. Lim was appointed as Maritime Attaché, minister-counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in London and led all IMO work for the Republic of Korea, serving as Deputy Permanent Representative to IMO up to August 2009.

Mr Lim was then appointed as Director General for Maritime Safety Policy Bureau at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM). He led the delegation of the Republic of Korea to the IMO Assembly in 2009.

In March 2011, Mr. Lim was appointed Commissioner of the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST). In July 2012, he assumed the position of President of Busan Port Authority.

RICH COUNTRIES PAY ZOMBIES $5 BILLION A YEAR IN SUBSIDIES TO PLUNDER THE OCEANS - The industrial fleet that now drags the high seas for fish has a combined engine power 10 times stronger than it did in 1950. Its nets are so huge that they’re sometimes big enough to hold 12 jumbo jets. And it is largely thanks to this all-out assault on high-seas fishing stocks that two-thirds of those stocks (paywall) are at the brink of collapse - or well past the edge.

But instead of discouraging this trend, rich countries are paying those vessels to over-fish like there’s no tomorrow. Japan, China, the US, the EU and other countries pay $27 billion to subsidize these vessels, according to a report by the Global Ocean Commission, an independent body of international leaders focused on ocean conservation policy. Of that, $5 billion alone goes on fuel subsidies from rich countries to industrial fishing fleets. Entrepreneurs like those in the Che Guevara 2 above, who are not damaging the environment, don't compete on a level playing field.

UNFAIR ON MARINE LIFE - The ultimate challenge, is to prevent mammals from becoming entangled in fishing nets that should attract a prosecution under the Marine Mammals Protection Acts.

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